CHAPTER ELEVEN

That evening Dad and I returned from Forks to find Embry already arriving at the house on foot, a paper sack tucked under his arm. I leaped out of the truck almost before Dad had parked it and ran over to him, restraining myself from grabbing him for a passionate kiss with difficulty.

"I missed you," I grinned.

"Me too."

"What have you got there?" I asked, indicating the sack as we headed up the drive to the house.

"Food." Embry looked at Dad, who was unlocking the door. "Mick, I wondered if you'd mind me making some dinner for you."

"Mind?" Dad snorted. "Go for your life, we can't cook for shit, it's microwave dinners if you leave it to us."

Embry laughed and headed for the kitchen. Dad left us to it and went to take a shower.

"I hope your Dad likes Mexican," Embry said, unpacking tortillas, ground beef, cheese, refried beans and a number of other items.

"He likes anything that fills his stomach," I grinned. "What are you making?"

"Burritos."

"Awesome."

I observed and got in the way trying to kiss and cuddle him until Dad was out of the bathroom, then took a shower before dinner. The minute the crockery was in the dishwasher we grabbed my laptop and began looking for available properties. It quickly became apparent that there were none to rent on the Reservation, but plenty in Forks.

"I don't mind moving to Forks," Embry said.

"You don't have a car," I pointed out.

"I can get one."

"I'm used to travelling over there to work with Dad anyway and you start earlier than us, it makes more sense to stay here."

"What about the Spears' place over on Oak?" Dad suggested, peering over his customary bike magazine. "It's about two doors down from the Atearas' on the opposite side. I heard they were selling up."

"I was about to look for houses for sale," I said. "Which agent is it with?"

"I don't know," Dad shrugged. "I could speak to Gus, though, him and me go back a few years, he's a biker. Might save you the agents' fee if he'll sell private."

"How big is it?" I asked. Most of the houses on Quil's street were large and most likely cost a fortune.

"Two bedrooms, I think, single storey place with garages. Want me to ask?"

"Yeah, thanks," I grinned and to my surprise Dad pulled out his cellphone immediately and began scrolling through the numbers.

"Gus, hey man, it's Mick, long time no speak," Dad began a few seconds later. A few pleasantries were exchanged and then he asked, "So you're selling up; leaving the Res?"

After a couple more minutes, he said, "My kid's looking to buy; what are you asking? Mmm...uh huh...sure, how about I send him over?"

I glanced at Embry and smiled. So far things sounded good and when Dad ended the call, he told us Gus Spears would sell to us for one-fifty to get a quick sale and that we should get over there right away to check it out.

The house was perfect with large rooms, double garage, a distant view of the sea and a spa in the back yard. I glanced left and right, noting fences surrounding the yard and no neighbours with houses tall enough to look over. I grinned and winked at Embry, imagining the spa would be a great source of fun if we were able to buy the house.

We told Gus Spears we would see the bank as soon as they had an appointment free to talk about a mortgage and he promised he wouldn't accept any other offers until he got an answer for us.

We spent the rest of the evening in my room, talking excitedly about the prospect of moving into the house together and the following morning I called my bank as soon as they opened and made an appointment with the mortgage adviser for the next afternoon. Neither me nor Embry would have any trouble getting time off work for the meeting.

The next day I took my one and only suit to work with me and right after lunch scrubbed up in the washroom and put on suit, collar, tie and shiny shoes and waited for Embry to arrive, feeling like a dick with Dad and the other guys still working in their coveralls around me.

"Got a date?" one of them grinned at me.

"No. Appointment with the bank," I said.

"Uh huh."

"He's buying a house," Dad put in.

I didn't have to wait long for Embry and as we walked to the bank I found I couldn't keep my eyes off him. He was wearing a light grey suit, white shirt and dark grey tie, his hair pulled back into a neat tail and I longed to grab him and kiss him. I couldn't remember ever having seen him in a suit and he looked hot.

The bank said no. The stuffy mortgage adviser was clearly not impressed that two guys were asking for a mortgage together. He didn't actually say anything, but his expression made it obvious and I wouldn't have been surprised if that affected his judgement. His reasons were that I had moved location too many times in a short period and that Embry hadn't been in permanent employment long enough. Incredulously, we explained that I had gone to New York for a year to get over the death of my wife and that Embry had been in an accident which almost killed him, but neither of those things seems to be good enough reasons and we left eventually, dejected and with no mortgage and spent the rest of the afternoon looking at rental agents for properties in Forks, finding none suitable.

When we told Dad the news on the drive back to La Push, he said he was sorry, but didn't seem particularly interested and we stopped talking about it, disappointed that he had started off so supportive and now didn't seem to care that we had been let down. All he said, rather casually, was that we would just have to keep looking.

I didn't talk about it at home as Embry and I continued looking for rented properties without any luck and then on Sunday Dad took me into Forks to meet Charlie. Embry wasn't invited although I didn't really expect him to be, but I wasn't particularly happy about being taken away from him for a few hours when both of us were feeling so downhearted.

Charlie wasn't at all what I expected. I had never really been officially introduced to Dad's previous women, but most of them had been blonde, brassy, loud and cheap. Charlie was dark-haired, curvy, maybe ten years younger than Dad and wearing cream slacks and a light blue silk shirt. She was soft and bubbly with a tinkling laugh and her apartment was pristine and expensively furnished. She looked at Dad like he was her idol and immediately treated me like a long lost brother.

She cooked pasta for us and served it with salad, home made garlic bread and wine all set out on a dining table with a cloth and napkins and fancy china and proved to be the perfect hostess. I liked her immediately and it was only when she asked if I had a girlfriend that I was unsure how to answer. I doubted Dad would have told her about that and I glanced at him with a raised eyebrow before I spoke. Much as I wanted to proudly tell her about Embry, I didn't want to piss him off at my first meeting with the woman he clearly adored.

"Paul's gay, Charlie," Dad said suddenly.

She looked at me and smiled. "Really? Well, do you have a boyfriend then?"

"Yeah, his name's Embry," I said, amazed, not by her question, but by what Dad had said.

"Have you known him long?"

"Since we were at school."

"Maybe I can meet him one day," she smiled.

"I'm sure he'd like that," I grinned back.

"So? What did you think of her?" Dad asked me later as we drove back to La Push. He sounded like a kid eager for his parents to approve of his new girlfriend.

"She's awesome," I said honestly. "I wouldn't have her down for a biker though."

"Yeah, looks can be deceiving. God knows what she sees in me, but somehow it works," he beamed.

Two more weeks passed and still Embry and I were unable to find a place to live. The only positive thing was that Dad began to spend entire weekends with Charlie, meaning Embry could stay over with me. He had many fights with his mother over it and a huge one when he told her he would be moving out as soon as we could find somewhere to live. Even after several years of knowing her son was gay and seeing him begin spending every spare minute with me, she still didn't get used to it.

As I woke up with Embry one Saturday morning, it was to the sound of the front door opening and Dad's feet heading down the hallway towards my door. I glanced at the clock in surprise and saw that it was approaching eight o'clock. Seconds later he banged on my door.

"Get up, you two, I got a job for you!" he called out and walked off again.

"Your Dad's home?" Embry opened his eyes and looked up at me.

"Yeah, I hope he didn't fight with Charlie. He doesn't sound pissed, though. Better see what it's about."

The job turned out to be helping Gus Spears and his family load their boxes of belongings into a trailer as they had apparently sold their house and were already moving out. Embry and I got stuck in and helped, but seeing them getting ready to leave the house we had wanted so much was upsetting. The Spears family were travelling light, leaving a good portion of their furniture behind for the new owners and taking only kitchen items, bedding and towels and their personal things and electrical equipment. By early afternoon everything was packed up, Mrs Spears had made lunch from whatever was left in the refrigerator and we all ate sitting on the porch. An hour later, they were gone. Embry and I were over by Dad's truck and didn't hear him saying goodbye to his old friend, so when he walked over to us carrying a thick envelope and a bunch of keys, I was surprised. They looked like the house keys.

"These are for you." Dad's serious expression broke into a wide grin as if he had been suppressing it with difficulty and he gave me the keys and Embry the envelope. Our mouths dropped open in unison.

"What? What did you do? You bought the house?" I stammered.

"Of course I bought the house, you wanted it, didn't you?" he smirked. "Fucking mortgage adviser's a jerk, I agree with you on that one. He couldn't think up a good enough excuse to say no to me though. The deposit was a gift - you can expect socks for Christmas for the next ten years. The monthly payments are detailed on the papers in there..." He pointed at the envelope. "You can give it to me each month and I'll pay the bank."

"Are you serious? Shit, Dad! That's awesome! Thanks so much!" I couldn't remember hugging him since I'd been a kid, but now I did just that with gusto. He laughed in an embarrassed fashion and pushed me off, pointing at Embry. "Hug him. I'll see you later." He took off in the truck leaving us standing in front of our new home, speechless and staring at each other.

"Oh my God, your Dad is amazing," Embry whispered. He pulled the papers out of the envelope and glanced at a couple of pages, his eyes widening further. "Fuck me!"

"I plan to," I smirked, sliding my arms around me. "What are you looking at?"

"It says here the mortgage is only for a hundred thousand. He paid a twenty-five grand deposit and gave another twenty-five to Mr Spears a couple of weeks ago to hold it."

"Shit!" I exclaimed again. I knew Dad was doing pretty well, but I had no idea he had fifty grand just sitting around waiting to be spent. I certainly hadn't expected him to spend his money buying a house for me to share with my boyfriend.

Embry slid the papers back into the envelope now and we went inside. We had of course looked around a few weeks earlier, but suddenly everything was different; now we were looking around our own house and I wasn't sure about Embry, but I was envisioning us making out wherever we looked - up against the kitchen counter, on the huge sofa in the lounge, in our own bed. The Spears family had even left a virtually new king size bed in the main bedroom and I grabbed Embry now and wrestled him off his feet into the middle of it. I dropped the keys onto the floor beside the bed and Embry did the same with the envelope.

"I never thought I'd be this lucky," I said.

"Your Dad's awesome," Embry smiled.

"I didn't mean that. Well, it's part of it, but I meant I never expected I would be this happy." I propped myself on one elbow and looked down at him. "That's because of you. I love you so much, I hope you know that."

He nodded slowly. "I can feel that you do."

"Things changed so fast for me," I mused. "I thought I was never really going to move on. When we were in New York and I saw how miserable I was making you, suddenly you were all I was thinking about. You're my life now. I just wish I could have Imprinted on you."

"The fact that you want it is enough." Embry slid his arms around my neck and pulled me down against him. "Are we going to stay here tonight?"

"Damn right!" I said at once. "Although we should go and get a few things first."

"Yeah, I'm going to want my toothbrush and definitely coffee for the morning."

I sniggered. "I was thinking of lube, shower gel and towels."

"That's all you ever think about," he teased.

"Can you blame me?" I pressed my lips against his and what I intended to be a warm kiss rapidly turned into a deep passionate one as I plunged my tongue into his mouth and slid my arms under him, shifted my body until I rested on top of him. I stayed there until I ached with longing, the feel of Embry's arousal only making things worse and then I reluctantly rolled away from him and sat up. "I suppose the sooner we sort things out, the sooner we can start enjoying our new home," I grinned.

Embry got up immediately and I picked up the keys. A few minutes later we set off on foot, my hand gripping Embry's tightly as we walked. As we passed Quil's house he suddenly leaned out of one of the upper windows and shouted down.

"Hey, guys, what are you doing down this way?"

"We're going to be your neighbours," Embry grinned up at him.

"What the fuck?"

"Quil Ateara, mind your language!" Quil's mother could be heard shouting in the background and Embry and I laughed.

"We bought the Spears house," I said. "Or at least my Dad did."

"You're going to live together? Awesome! Your Mom's going to love that, Em, shit!"

"Quil!" Mrs Ateara yelled.

"Quil, stop cussing, you have a child Imprint, remember," Embry smirked. "Yeah, so how about you lend us your truck for an hour or so. We're just going to pick up some stuff and come back."

"What's it worth?" Quil said at once.

"A pizza. But we'll drop it here with the truck, you're not coming over the first night," I said, wiggling my eyebrows.

"You think I want to be a gooseberry with you two fu - jerks?" Quil grimaced. "Ok, pizza's good. Here." He leaned out of the window and hurled a keyring at me. I raised my hand just quick enough to prevent it hitting me in the eye and snatched it out of the air.

"Thanks, buddy. See you soon."

With Quil's truck, the errands took much less time. We called at Dad's house first and I grabbed a backpack and stuffed into it a change of clothes, towels, showergel, my toothbrush, lube and some items from the kitchen including coffee and breakfast fixings and some basic items of crockery. We were going to have to take a shopping trip soon to buy all the essentials, but for one night, what I had would do.

Next we drove over to Embry's house. I suggested waiting outside, but he grasped my hand determinedly and towed me into the house. Tiffany Call appeared out of the kitchen in a moment.

"I wasn't expecting you back," she said, eyeing me with a frown.

"I'm just collecting some things," he told her. "I'll be taking everything in a couple of days, we got a house."

"I thought this house thing was some kind of pipe dream."

"Mom, do you seriously think I would make something like that up? We tried to get a mortgage and the bank said no, so Paul's Dad bought us a house, we just have to give him the mortgage payments. You know, Mom, I'm going to be with Paul the rest of my life, like I've told you a million times, so would it kill you to try and accept it? Mick hated the idea of Paul being with a guy to begin with, but I guess he realised in the end that the most important thing is that his son is happy."

"Of course I want you to be happy, Embry. It's not so much the fact that you're...you know...but..."

"Gay, Mom. You can say it," he growled. "I'm gay and I love Paul. He's my Imprint!"

I glanced at Embry in surprise. He was starting to lose it and I could see he was sweating, almost pulsing with anger. Could he possibly be close to phasing after so long?"

"Em, calm down," I said softly, resting my hand on his shoulder. He was burning up. "Look at me."

He turned his head and his eyes met mine. "I'm sorry, I don't know what happened."

"Just get the things you need and we'll go," I told him.

He nodded, drew away from me and disappeared to his room. I walked slowly down the hallway towards Tiffany and stepped into the kitchen. She probably wouldn't want to hear a word I had to say, but wasn't it worth a shot?

"What do you want, Paul?" she asked, sounding flustered.

"Nothing for myself. I'd like for you to be more accepting of Embry. My Dad hated what I am too for a while, but he got over it. Don't you want Embry to be happy?"

"Of course I do, I said so!" she snapped.

"But you have a problem with me."

"What do you think? I had to watch Embry crying over you for years. He never said much, but I'm not stupid; I knew it was because he Imprinted. You're just like your father, barging your way through life trampling on everyone's feelings like they don't matter so long as you're ok..."

"That's not true at all," I interrupted. "If I hadn't Imprinted, I would have been with Embry for the last five years. Whatever you might think, he's the most important person in my life now. I'm never going to hurt him or let him down. As for my Dad...he might have had a bit of a bad reputation for a few years, but he's not a bad guy and he settled down too just lately. Would it hurt to at least give me a chance?"

"I can't help it if I don't want to see my son treated the same way I..." She stopped suddenly.

"I beg your pardon?" I could feel my eyebrows rising towards my hairline. What exactly was she saying?

"Nothing," she said now.

"No, go on. Have you a grudge against my Dad?"

"Forget it, I have nothing further to say," Tiffany frowned, flushing somewhat.

"No, really, go on, Mom," said Embry from the doorway. "I want to know the real reason you won't give me and Paul your blessing."

"I am not talking to you about this!" she snapped.

"Em, drop it, it's ok," I said, going to join him. I had a feeling I knew what the problem was and it could wait. "Leave it until another time. Let's go."

"Fine. I'll be back for the rest of my stuff over the next couple of days," Embry said and stalked off down the hall. I made to follow him until Tiffany's voice halted me.

"I don't want him to be ashamed of me," she said. "It was about seven years ago. Your Dad and I dated a couple of times. I guess I thought it might turn into more than it was. He wasn't particularly nice to me."

"My Dad split with my Mom around that time, did he tell you that?" I asked.

"No..."

"They fought like cat and dog. He went nuts after. Believe me, you weren't the only one. It's no excuse, but he wasn't himself. He didn't care about anything for a long time. He's different now and I'm not like that either. It half killed me when Rachel died, but I'm over it. I'll be with Embry now until one of us dies."

Much to my surprise, Tiffany's eyes grew tearful for a second before she blinked rapidly and drove them away.

"Maybe you could ask Embry to come over tomorrow and talk to me," she said quietly. "I've been pretty unfair to him."

"Sure, he'll be glad to sort things out," I nodded.

"Thanks, Paul. And I'm sorry. I misjudged you."

"Don't worry about it." I shot her a grin and set off after Embry. He was already outside waiting on the porch.

"What was she talking to you about?" he frowned as we got into the truck.

"She says she wants you to come over tomorrow and talk to her and that she misjudged me," I told him. "I guess she'll tell you the rest herself."

"Are you serious? What did you say to her?" Embry marvelled.

"Not a lot, but I think things will get a lot better with her from now on."

I started the truck and drove over to the fast food bar by the bus station where we picked up three pizzas, then headed back to Oak Road, dropping the vehicle and one of the pizzas off at Quil's place first. We gathered up the bags and the other pizzas and then walked over to our house together, to eat dinner and spend the first night in our own home.